Improvement in clasps for skirt-hoops



UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE W. OHEESMAN AND GHARLES DURAND, OF ANSONIA, CONN., ASSIGN- ORS TO J. lV. OSBORNE AND G. WV. OHEESMAN, OF SAME PLAGE.

IMPROVEMENT IN CLASPS FOR SKIRT-HOOPS.

Specilication forming part of Letters Patent N0. 54.055, dated April 17, 11866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GEORGE W. CHEES- MAN and CHARLES DURAND, of Ansonia, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Olasps for Skirt-Hoops 5 and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference bein g had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this speciiication, in which- Figure 1 represents a clasp made according to our invention. Fig.2 is a longitudinal section thereof on the line x of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 shows the clasp before it has been struck up to receive the ends of the hoop to be conned by it and after it has been cnt to the shape required.

The object ot' our invention is to improve the clasps used to secure the ends of skirthoops, and it consists in forming lips at each end of a clasp, whereby several advantages are secured, among which is the capabilityr of fastening the clasp at its end to a portion of the hoop which is not overlapped by itselfthat is to say, which is inside of the joint of the hoop-thereby making it easier for the operator'to adjust those parts of the hoop which are to overlap in making the joint.

Another advantage is derived from the covering and protection afforded on the outside of the joint to the extremities of the overlapping portions of the hoop, such protection being afforded by the curtains F F, which connect the lips to the body of the clasp, and which hide such extremities from view.

Another advantage is that by means of the lips we are enabled to lock the clasp to the hoop at points beyond the joint, such points being each held by the clasp independently of the other.

In the example of our invention here given we have shown a clasp, A, laid out on a plane surface, and also bentaround a hoop. ln cutting it out to the required shape we remove portions thereof at E, so as to produce lips at its extremities, which lips are connected to the body of the clasp by curtains F, which, when the clasp is applied to a hoop, come on the circumference thereof. The width of the curtains should be equal to the width ofthe skirt-hoop to which the clasp is to be applied. After the blank iscutoutto theform shown in Fig. 3, it is struck up so as to bring it opposite lianges fand its opposite lip C, at right angles to the back of the clasp and in planes parallel with each other. We furthermore notch the ends of that part of the clasp which lies between the lips, as seen at B.

When the operative, who is usually a woman or young girl, goes to apply one of our clasps to a hoop, she irst bends the lips of one end down over the hoop, thereby securing the hoop and clasp to each other. She is then at liberty to adjust the overlapping ends of the hoop to each other and to the clasp, and to bend the extremities of the flanges f down on the joint thus made, which bending is effected more easily than it could be effected if the ends of the flanges were left square.

When the ends of the flanges are left square they are stiffer and more difficult to bend over and require a greater degree of force to be employed bythe operative for that purpose. When they are notched the bending is more easily effected, and since most of this sort of work is done by women, it follows that they can accomplish their task with more facility when the ianges are so prepared. Besides this facility in regard to labor, the notches enable the workwomen to lay the iianges more smoothly than they could do when the ends were left square.

When a clasp is made and applied to a hoop according to our invention, it is not essential to bend the middle of the clasp for the purpose of locking the inclosed ends of the hoop to each other andto the clasp, since the lips O are capable of holding onto the ends of the hoop with considerable tenacity. In applying our clasp to a skirt-hoop the extremities of the hoop which overlap each other may sometimes, through inadvertence or haste of the operatives, be extended into the openings E, in which case their rugged ends will be hidden from view by the curtains F 5 but in clasps which have no extensions, if the extremities of the hoops are suffered to protrude from the ends of the clasp7 they are exposed to View and mar the appearance of the garment.

We claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination, in elaspsfor skirt-hoops, of lips C at their ends, with notches B at the ends ofthe fizmges ot' the clasps, substantially as shown.

2. Goncealing the extremities of the overlapped parts of a skirt-hoop by means of a, curtain, F, on the outer side of the clasp, substantiailly as described.

GEO. W. GHEESMAN. CHARLES DURAND. Witnesses:

C. M. MINOR, GEORGE OTTO SOHUELLER. 

